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This is a novel that grew from a cult Podcast; Welcome to Night Vale. You don’t need to know the Podcast (I didn’t) to enjoy the book (I did, very much). Night Vale is like any small town in America. Or at least like any small town as seen by Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury. Or even by Thomas Pynchon or Stephen King in their more whimsical moments. We have the features of everyday life but we also have aliens, conspiracies, secrets and mysteries drawn from the woozy histories of every bit of off-beat American pop-culture you can think off.

Always 19 Jackie Fierro and Diane Crayton are our main protagonists and they are as strong and endearing a pair as you could wish for to fight for your town against strangenesses and darknesses small and huge. Fink and Cranor are immensely knowing and they fling a lot at you but they are in control: much of the wild wonder comes in enticing brief references that add colour and delight without having to derail the story. This is like the X-Files or Stranger Things but not quite as dark. It’s a delight and I spent most of the book with a sappy grin on my face. It’s feel good but in a properly surreal way. What’s not to love? ~ Simon Spanton

Synopsis

Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE ...a friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while its citizens pretend to sleep. It's a town like your town, with a city hall, a bowling alley, a diner, and a radio station reporting all the news that's allowed to be heard. It might be more like your town than you'd like to admit. In this ordinary town where ghosts, aliens and government conspiracies are parts of everyday life, the lives of two women, with two mysteries, are about to converge.

Reviews

As weird and surreal as I hoped it would be -- Wil Wheaton A splendid, weird, moving novel . . . it manages beautifully that trick of embracing the surreal in order to underscore and emphasise the real * NPR * I'm packing up and moving to Night Vale! -- Ransom Riggs A marvellous book . . . full of people we love and root for, full of frightening things, and full of dramatic tension that pays off beautifully . . . shot through it all is the love and integrity that made Night Vale a success from the beginning * Boing Boing * Clever, twisted, beautiful, strange, wonderful and sweet . . . this might be the best book I've read in years -- Patrick Rothfuss

About the Author

Joseph Fink created and co-writes the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, novel and touring live show. In his mid-twenties he started Commonplace Books, producing two collections of short works which he edited at his office job when his boss wasn't looking. He is from California but doesn't live there anymore. Jeffrey Cranor co-writes the hit podcast, novel and touring live show Welcome to Night Vale. He has also written more than one hundred short plays with the New York Neo-Futurists, co-wrote and co-performed a two-man show about time travel with Joseph, and collaborated with choreographer (also wife) Jillian Sweeney to create three full-length dance pieces. Jeffrey lives in New York State.